Fluorescent lighting assemblies are well known and their use has been well established. Conventional fluorescent lighting assemblies, such as the prior art assembly depicted in FIG. 1, include a plurality of fluorescent lamps mounted in a lighting fixture, wherein opposite ends of each lamp are electrically connected via conductive wires to one or more electronic ballast subassemblies. Generally, energizing current from the ballast is directed to a first end of each lamp through a first set of wires, and subsequently returned to the ballast from a second end of each lamp through a second set of wires.
As the popularity of fluorescent lighting assemblies has increased in recent years, manufacturers and designers have strived to reduce the costs associated with lighting assembly production. In particular, these efforts have focused primarily on reducing the manufacturing cost of the electronic ballast sub-assembly. Consequently, only limited attention has been directed toward cost reduction of other components of such assemblies.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,128 to Altman et al. discloses a fluorescent lighting assembly having a simplified wiring arrangement aimed at reducing the labor associated with installation of the electronic ballast. More specifically, Altman et al. disclose a lighting assembly wherein each lamp has one end connected to a ballast socket, and an opposite second end electrically connected to the second end of an adjacent lamp through a common socket connector. Consequently, the disclosed assembly requires the return of electrical current to the ballast via one of each pair of lamps. Although the assembly disclosed by Altman results in a reduced wiring requirement, it has inherent limitations. For instance, the disclosed assembly incorporates specially designed electrical connectors for electrically shorting the adjacent remote lamp ends. In an alternate embodiment, Altman discloses the use of conventional sockets in lieu of the specially designed connector. However, in that instance connection of adjacent connector pairs requires conventional wiring. A further limitation results from the disclosed electrical configuration in which current is returned to the ballast via the fluorescent lamps. Namely, the required lamp pairing configuration limits the use of the disclosed assembly to mounting an even quantity of fluorescent lamps.
Accordingly, there is a well-established need for a fluorescent lighting assembly having a reduced wiring requirement which overcomes the limitations of known lighting assemblies.